A place where a Director of Instructional Technology and Innovation transparently shares her successes, failures, fears, and desires in the realm of K-12 educational technology
@juliedavisEDU

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Do You See What I See?

"Said the night wind to the little lamb

Do you see what I see

Way up in the sky little lamb

Do you see what I see

A star, a star

Dancing in the night

With a tail as big as a kite

With a tail as big as a kite"

- The Little Drummer Boy

Perspective. Your reality is your perception of the truth. Interestingly, the same eye witness to an event, conversation, or day can have totally different perceptions of how things went down. Sometimes the most magnificent moments are totally missed because our mindsets are skewed. As we finish up a semester of education at our school I ask, do you see what I see? If you walk down the hallways of my school would you see:

Innovation. Educators looking for opportunities to broaden the audience of their students learning. Would you notice the QR Codes on the first grade hallways that link to videos our first graders have created in Seesaw to share their learning?

Care. Would you notice not only a teacher stooping down to tie the shoe of a student that doesn't know how but also see a fellow student helping their friend that often needs a little extra help in the classroom and throughout her day?

Collaboration. Would you notice the value we place on teaching our students collaboration skills for their future? Would you see students working together to solve problems and learning how to work with the personalities of others as they do so?

Hard Work. Would you witness the beauty of seeing success? Would you see the smile on a spelling bee winner's face? A student that carries a dictionary around on a regular basis to learn how to spell new words. Would you see the first student that met a technology geography challenge start helping the rest of his class find the area on a Google map? Would you notice the pride that comes with academic success?

Engagement. Would you notice the teacher that works hard to engage his students in hands-on learning activities? Would you see students utilizing classroom tools to aid in the learning process? How would you interpret what you see? Would you see it the way I see it or would you be wary? How does your past and your view of the present intersect in your interpretation of the truth? How does mine impact me?

Risk Taking. Do you see the student that is allowed to tinker with no grade attached and how that causes a willingness to try? Do you see the value of unstructured learning opportunities that sparks the passion of the learner? Would you see, like I do, a culture that eradicates the fear of failure because it is creating a sense of failing forward? What about educators that are willing to take risks to try to better meet the needs of each student and create a culture of learning ownership? Would you see this as a good thing or a scary thing? What would it take for you to see it as a good thing? Can you agree that risk taking is something we should not only be modeling for our students but that we should be teaching as well?

Love. Do you see what I see everyday? A group of educators that are relational with our students? That teach our students what it means to love others and to share Christ's love? From the simple act of giving students opportunities to be campus caretakers, to creating Christmas trees to be delivered to the local children's hospital during the holidays, or by valuing family by having such events as Grandparent's Day, do you see how we focus on love at our school? Do you see how we are a school that is a place for students to grow as Lovers of God who seek Truth, serve others, and steward creation and culture.

Perspective. May I ever be mindful that my perspective isn't necessarily always the "right" one but also that it's important that I share my perspective with others as a way to encourage and share the good things happening in education day in and day out. #CCSlearns